Hi, Have you tried to produce lichtenberg figures with the acrylic slab at very low temperatures. I expect it will reduce the velocity of the spark across the material. Be careful it may explode if the material becomes brittle. Applying the voltage to the acrylic slab after being cooled in a freezer and ultimately to the temperature of liquid N2, I do not know if the polymer can stand this cooling, it may allow slow motion capture of the moving sparks. It's a guess. As it's a chemical reaction it should slow down.!!! Thanks for your attention.
Jordi
Re: Low temperature
Posted by Bert Hickman on 5/25/2017, 8:41 am, in reply to "Low temperature" Edited by board administrator 5/25/2017, 10:00 am
Hi Jordi,
Sorry for the LONG delay in responding. I just discovered that your message had not been approved and posted just this morning.
We have chilled specimens using dry ice and liquid nitrogen and then charged them using the particle accelerator. Although the discharge behavior and streamer velocity do not appear to change, the charge retention time (before manually discharging) does increase dramatically.
We can maintain almost of the injected charge in a cooled specimen indefinitely as long as we keep the specimen chilled! For specimens continuously chilled using dry ice, we can charge them up, bring them home, and then discharge them weeks, or even months, later with virtually no difference in the appearance of the resulting discharge figures. This is because the "leakage resistance" of acrylic increases by orders of magnitude when the material is chilled. This reduces the rate that the internally-trapped charges can leak away, extending the time they remain charged.
--Previous Message-- : Hi, : Have you tried to produce lichtenberg : figures with the acrylic slab at very low : temperatures. I expect it will reduce the : velocity of the spark across the material. : Be careful it may explode if the material : becomes brittle. : Applying the voltage to the acrylic slab : after being cooled in a freezer and : ultimately to the temperature of liquid N2, : I do not know if the polymer can stand this : cooling, it may allow slow motion capture of : the moving sparks. It's a guess. As it's a : chemical reaction it should slow down.!!! : Thanks for your attention. : : Jordi :